Message from slopez

[Anonymous]

KOREA
Last Names
Oh my goodness!!! How could the Japanese just take away a person’s heritage, what is the point in that? Was it in an effort to make the Koreans Japanese; to force them to assimilate? Even the boys teacher knew that this was not a good thing;”…unthinkable for one Asian people to another Asian people, especially we Asians who should have a greater respect for our ancestors… (397)” This story by Richard Kim was very heartbreaking. And the way the father made sure that his son would remember vividly the day their name was taken away by going to police office and going to visit the ancestors’ graves to say good bye all over again, to ask for forgiveness. It is almost as if they died along with the culture that was being taken wrested away from them. If someone came and told me to change my name I would tell them to go fly a kite. People from all walks of life in this story were forced to give up their name in exchange for a Japanese one. I am definitely going to have my students read this article. Names are important thing it is what ties you to the past; tells you where you are from, who you are. WOW, its crazy to me.
:@
(I know a similar thing was done with immigrants to Ellis Island but a lot of that had to do with hard pronunciation and other issues, but Korea was so systematic it’s almost ghastly)